Anker’s SOLIX F3800 Is The New Heavyweight In “Moveable” Energy Stations – CleanTechnica Examined

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The Anker SOLIX F3800, mixed with the brand new House Energy Panel, is probably the most accessible whole-home backup energy system round proper now. It will probably energy your private home in an influence outage, can be utilized as a complete backup resolution for off-grid properties, and performance because the hub of a completely put in photo voltaic vitality system for on a regular basis use, seamlessly harnessing the solar to energy your private home.

Anker made a reputation for itself within the client electronics area over the past decade with a spread of inexpensive but sturdy USB chargers, cables, and batteries. Amongst a sea of single use generic manufacturers, Anker stood out as a model shoppers might belief, and in consequence, its merchandise discovered their manner into hundreds of thousands of properties around the globe together with ours.

After a wildfire burned our residence to the bottom in 2017, we went straight out to purchase the entire vary of Anker USB chargers, cables, energy strips, and energy stations, and so they simply proceed to carry out. Due to the energy of their model and the sturdiness of their merchandise, we have been excited to see them transfer into the moveable energy station enterprise over the previous few years. A handful of small but highly effective gadgets have helped them acquire a foothold with more and more bigger models being launched over the next months.

It felt like a pure evolution that led Anker to the intersection of moveable energy stations and the house stationary storage market. Anker didn’t bat a watch and easily charged into the area with the launch of its SOLIX model, with the F3800 because the flagship product.

Anker SOLIX House Energy Panel is the very important product of Anker SOLIX F3800 House Energy System. Suitable with one or two models of Anker SOLIX F3800, you’ll be able to set up a sensible complete residence vitality system. Anker SOLIX F3800 can energy your private home with the grid and the rooftop photo voltaic concurrently through AC coupling. You may retailer extra vitality generated by your photo voltaic panels throughout the day to be used at evening, or it could actually robotically present an prompt backup energy provide in your residence within the occasion of energy outages.

If your private home doesn’t at present have rooftop photo voltaic and you haven’t any plans to put in it, you’ll be able to nonetheless harness photo voltaic vitality by utilizing inflexible or moveable photo voltaic panels together with the House Energy Panel and Anker SOLIX F3800. These choices can give you a house energy system that reduces electrical energy payments and means that you can profit from photo voltaic vitality. Moreover, this method could be built-in with the grid to energy your private home.

The Anker SOLIX F3800 makes use of iron phosphate battery cells, also called LiFePO₄, because the vitality storage for the unit. This chemistry is thought for its potential to resist heavy use, 1000’s of cycles, and a 100% depth of discharge which is one thing extra conventional lithium-ion primarily based packs merely can’t do.

As well as, iron phosphate cells are extraordinarily thermally steady, that means it’s practically unimaginable for it to have thermal points within the occasion of bodily injury to the cells themselves. This makes it the perfect chemistry for stationary storage however traditionally, its low vitality density made it much less most well-liked for moveable functions. Consequently, the Anker SOLIX F3800 is a girthy unit, with a whopping 3,840 Wh / 3.84 kWh of storage capability that strains the definition of moveable at 132 kilos.

This may be expanded as much as an unbelievable 26.9 kWh due to its Modular Pack Design. As much as 6 enlargement battery packs could be jacked proper into the Anker SOLIX F3800 to allow you to buy precisely the correct quantity of storage in your utility. It’s additionally a good way to get began with a big energy station with the data that you may at all times add extra capability sooner or later as your wants change. Outdated and new Anker battery packs play collectively properly, guaranteeing an enduring resolution in your vitality wants.

Iron phosphate battery cells have continued to enhance in recent times, so the upper weight and bigger quantity penalties for utilizing them isn’t as excessive because it was only a few years in the past. However, it looks as if the proper chemistry for a semi-portable energy station just like the Anker SOLIX F3800.

Charging

Anker despatched us the Anker SOLIX F3800 to evaluation and we have been desperate to get began. Earlier than we might begin enjoying with it, we needed to get it charged up. This may be executed with a regular wall cable from any AC outlet. Out of the field, it defaults to pulling 1,600 watts from the wall, although it could actually assist as much as 1,800 watts peak AC charging. The charging pace could be adjusted with the Anker smartphone app.

To verify this, we plugged it into the wall and tuned the charging pace all the way down to a meager 1,000 watts to high it up for its first cost. Within the on-line guide for the Anker SOLIX F3800, Anker recommends totally charging the unit earlier than its first use and we fortunately obliged.

If AC charging isn’t your factor, you can even recharge the unit from a regular 12 volt automotive outlet at 120 watts or instantly through photo voltaic. Should you’re utilizing it as a backup energy resolution from your private home, plugging it into the house’s AC system in all probability makes probably the most sense, however you’ll be able to add extra vitality safety with some photo voltaic panels.

The Anker SOLIX F3800 additionally helps charging instantly from photo voltaic panels from 11-60V by means of an XT-60 connection. For 11-32V photo voltaic chargers, it could actually pull in a most of 10 amps and with 15-60V photo voltaic chargers, that will get pushed as much as 27 amps max.

The Anker SOLIX F3800 can settle for as much as 2,400 watts from moveable photo voltaic panels, that are nice in case you’re utilizing the Anker SOLIX F3800 in an RV, trailer, or as a backup energy resolution. Simply unfold the panels, join them up with the included MC4 hyperlink cables and you can begin harvesting natural, free vary photons from the solar.

For extra everlasting setups, you can even wire it as much as a hardwired mounted photo voltaic set up which bumps the utmost photo voltaic it could actually drink as much as 3,800 watts when related to a House Energy Panel. These installations do require skilled set up and extra {hardware} to get them wired up, however the advantages are apparent.

Wiring the Anker SOLIX F3800 into your private home with the House Energy Panel with some mounted photo voltaic panels on the roof transforms it from a nice-to-have unit into the center of your private home’s electrical system. It drinks up extra solar energy and shops it for the day it’s worthwhile to maintain your private home operating when the grid goes down. That’s true vitality independence.

Utilizing the Anker SOLIX F3800

To actually put the Anker SOLIX F3800 to the take a look at, we took it out of the kitchen the place we usually stress take a look at moveable energy stations and went straight into the storage. I introduced out an array of energy instruments together with angle grinders, sawzalls, drills, and sure even a welder.

I’m a hack at welding however I can reliably get issues to stay collectively and so they appear to carry as much as abuse, in order that’s one thing. I plugged my Lincoln Electrical multiprocess machine into the Anker SOLIX F3800 and received all my provides arrange. As knowledgeable hack, I used to be welding on the ground of the storage as common and laid down a couple of beads on some scrap materials.

The Anker SOLIX F3800 didn’t bat a watch and simply saved pushing energy to the welder. I lay down a couple of beads for about 10 minutes and the welder had no concern with the facility provided from the Anker SOLIX F3800. The facility ranged from zero when not pulling the set off on the welder to 30 or 40 amps because it ramped up earlier than shortly spiking to 2,000 to 2,550 watts when actively MiG welding.

The unit had no points supporting this load or the wide selection of energy instruments I used to prep the weld floor and get the fabric trimmed up. The Anker SOLIX F3800 can assist as much as 6,000 watts of energy output so it wasn’t a lot a take a look at of the max wattage it might deal with, however simply the pure depth of a welder and energy instruments which might usually draw energy in a short time and at excessive masses.

The Anker SOLIX F3800 really bridges the hole between moveable energy stations and glued batteries designed to be bolted in place in a battery wall in your residence. It may be used utterly by itself or instantly wired into your private home’s electrical panel, relying on what you want it to do. You may add capability to it by buying enlargement batteries or take simply this core unit with you. It is likely one of the most succesful, versatile programs we’ve seen and from the seems to be of it, there isn’t a lot the Anker SOLIX F3800 can’t do.

The Anker SOLIX F3800 can be utilized as a transportable unit and comes geared up with 4 wheels and even a luggage-style deal with that means that you can transfer 132 kilos / 60 kilograms of mass round with out an excessive amount of hassle. It’s not one thing you’re going to take to the park or in all probability even out on a tenting journey, however it’s nice for shifting it round the home or perhaps out to your off-grid cabin to maintain the lights on and all of your home equipment operating when you’re out having fun with nature.

It might even be an excellent candidate to be used in an RV, the place you can quickly transfer it from your own home into the RV, holding the unit charged up from the car’s alternator or a rooftop photo voltaic system.

As a particular hack, the Anker SOLIX F3800 may also be used to cost up your EV with none further {hardware}. Each different moveable energy station we’ve reviewed had points with this as a result of EV chargers error out. This may be hacked with a floor loop plug, however Anker solved this natively with the Anker SOLIX F3800.

Plugging an AC EV charger into the Anker SOLIX F3800 returns the standard error on any charger. Anker added a particular button to allow 240 volts output particularly for EV chargers. To activate this mode, double press the 240 volt energy change and the unit mixes issues up internally to allow EV charging with out having to purchase any further {hardware}.

We examined this with our 240v Wallbox Pulsar Plus AC charger, a gen 3 Tesla Wall Connector, and a 110v Mercedes wall charger. None of them have been in a position to make use of the unit natively in 110v mode however simply related to the unit and have been in a position to cost from it utilizing Anker’s 240 volt energy change. A lot success!

The Anker SOLIX F3800 can run in 3 completely different working modes to swimsuit a spread of functions:

The Anker SOLIX House Energy Panel can monitor the facility output from each the rooftop photo voltaic system and the grid, or can even monitor the facility output from the inflexible photo voltaic panels/moveable photo voltaic panels and the grid. Consequently, it could actually recharge the F3800 with extra photo voltaic vitality and make the most of the saved energy to provide the home during times of low photo voltaic manufacturing, thereby enhancing photo voltaic vitality utilization effectivity.

Setting the On/Off-peak mode through the Anker App helps you to energy your private home throughout peak occasions and recharge the F3800 throughout off-peak occasions, thereby serving to you to save lots of the electrical energy invoice long-term. Its inner Good Vitality Administration system works with Anker’s Vitality Optimizer to resolve when to make use of vitality from the solar, the battery, or the grid to maintain your payments low.

When an influence outage occurs, the Anker SOLIX House Energy Panel will robotically change to the F3800 as the facility supply to provide as much as 12 circuits related within the backup load heart. With correct circuit planning, the 6,000W AC output and 120V/240V twin voltage permits the opportunity of attaining whole-home backup.

Total

The Anker SOLIX F3800 fills an necessary hole between moveable energy stations and residential vitality storage programs. It’s a clumsy area, however Anker has executed an admirable job of constructing a versatile, scalable product that delivers not solely the performance, however the kind issue that makes it able to residing in each of those worlds with out an excessive amount of of a problem.

At 3.84 kWh of vitality storage, it’s a large quantity of capability for a transportable unit and there’s no getting across the Anker SOLIX F3800’s 132 pound weight. On the flip aspect, 3.84 kWh of storage is just not a ton of energy if you’re powering your total residence. The typical residence in America makes use of 11 kilowatt-hours of electrical energy per day, so this could actually be just for supporting vital masses or as a backup system.

Anker knew that and made it doable so as to add extra battery packs, daisy-chaining them into the Anker SOLIX F3800 so you’ll be able to actually construct the peerlessly sized system with the correct quantity of storage in your wants. Its iron phosphate battery chemistry offers householders the peace of thoughts that the batteries are extraordinarily steady and can present an extended life with out points.

For extra details about the Anker SOLIX F3800, head over to the Anker SOLIX F3800’s digital residence.

Disclaimer: Anker generously sponsored this text and supplied the Anker SOLIX F3800 to the writer freed from cost for the needs of this evaluation.

Specs

• MSRP:
  • Anker SOLIX F3800: $3,999 (at present on sale for $3,499)
  • Anker SOLIX F3800 + House Backup Package: $4,598 (at present on sale for $3,999)
  • Anker SOLIX F3800 + Good House Backup Package: $5,237 (at present on sale for $4,299)
  • Anker SOLIX F3800 + 3,800 kWh Growth Battery: $6,498 (at present on sale for $4,999)
• Battery Chemistry: Lithium iron phosphate battery cells
• Storage Capability: 3,840 wh / 3.84kWh, expandable as much as 26.9kWh with as much as 6 elective Anker SOLIX BP3800 enlargement batteries due to its Modular Pack Design
• Weight: 132.3 kilos / 60 kilograms
• Included equipment: AC charging cable & two MC4 3-Port Photo voltaic Charging Connectors
• Connectivity: Monitor vitality enter and output from the Anker app. Connects with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
• Guarantee: 5-year guarantee
• Safety: No Danger of Fireplace and Shock

Energy enter

• AC charging (120v wall outlet): 1,800 watts
• DC charging (photo voltaic): 2,400W photo voltaic enter max, for a peak cost of 0 to 80% in 1.5 hours with photo voltaic

Energy output

• AC output scores: 6,000W, 120V/240V split-phase output
• AC output ports: NEMA 14-50 and L14-30 shops onboard to instantly cost your EV and RV